‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

CE 370
Reinforced Concrete Design-I

Lecture #6
Flexural Behavior of RC Beams: Cracked Stage

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I 1 September 3, 2019

 Contents
2

 Objectives of the present lecture

 Elastic stresses when concrete is cracked
 Expression for yield curvature
 Modular ratio and transformed area
 Steps followed in transformed area problems

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Objectives of the Present lecture
3

 To discuss behavior of RC beams in a cracked stage.

 To explain how to use transformed area method to
analyze RC beams in cracked stage.

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Elastic Stresses when Concrete is Cracked
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 When the bending moment is sufficiently large
and the tensile stress in the extreme fibers is
greater than the modulus of rupture, it is
assumed that all of the concrete on the tensile
side of the beam is cracked.
 The reinforcing bars on the tension side begin
to pick up the tension caused by the applied
moment.
 In this stage the compressive stresses vary
linearly with the distance from the neutral axis.
 Note: The straight-line stress-strain variation
occurs under normal service-load conditions
because at these loads the concrete stresses are
generally less than 0.5fc’. The cracks occur at all places along the
beam where the actual moment is greater
than the cracking moment.
CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019
 Expression for yield Curvature
5
Moment
 When the moment is increased beyond the
cracking moment, the slope of the curve Failure
Rebars yield
decreases a little because the beam is not quite
M yield
stiff as was in the initial stage before the
concrete cracked. M service Service or working
 The diagram will follow almost a straight line load range
M cr
from Mcr to the point where the reinforcing is Concrete cracks
stressed to its yield point. in tension

Curvature, 

The section curvature at yield, Φ𝑦 :

𝜀𝑠 = 𝜀𝑦
𝜀𝑦
∴ Φ𝑦 = = Yield curvature
𝑑−𝑥

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Modular Ratio (n) and Transformed Area
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fc
 When the steel bars are replaced with
an equivalent area of fictitious N.A.
concrete (nAs), which supposedly can
resist tension, the area is referred to as
the transformed area. As

 As transformed area is of concrete fs

only it can be handled by the usual n
methods for elastic homogeneous
beams. Tensile stress in the fictitious concrete :
 Tensile side is shown by dashed line f tc f E f  E 
c  s   s  f tc  c f s  f tc  s  n  s 
because the diagram is discontinuous. Ec E s Es n  Ec 
 Except the transformed area of
concrete, rest of the concrete in If force F resisted by steel is to be resisted by fictitious concrete,
tension has been cracked and unable F F A
to resist tension. f s  nf tc   n  c  n  Ac  nAs
As Ac As
 when n = 10, 500 mm2 of steel will  Area of required concrete will be n times that of steel.
carry the same total force as 5000
mm2 of concrete.

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Steps followed in Transformed Area Problems
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1. Locate the neutral axis:

o Assume it is located a distance x from the compression surface of
the beam.
o Equate the first moment of the compression area of the beam cross
section about the neutral axis to the first moment of the tensile
area about the neutral axis.
o Solve the resulting quadratic equation by using the quadratic
formula.
2. Calculate the moment of inertia of the transformed section.
3. Compute the stresses in the concrete and the steel with the flexure
formula (f =My/I).

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Problem-1
8

a) Calculate the bending stresses in the beam shown in the figure below using
the transformed area method; fc’ = 20 MPa, n = 9 and M = 95 kN.m.
b) Determine the allowable resisting moment of the beam, if the allowable
stresses in concrete and steel are 10 MPa and 140 MPa respectively.

425
500
3 − ϕ28

All dimensions in mm
500

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

Solution: 300

425 425
500
3 − ϕ 28
(425  x)
(𝐴𝑠 = 1846)

nAs  16614 mm 2
All dimensions in mm
425
Taking first moments about neutral axis (neutral axis depth from top fiber is 𝑥):
𝑥
(300 × 𝑥) = 𝑛𝐴𝑠 (425 − 𝑥) ⇒ 150𝑥 2 = 16614(425 − 𝑥) ⇒ 150𝑥 2 = 7060950 − 16614𝑥
2
⇒ 150𝑥 + 16614𝑥 − 7060950 = 0 ⇒ 𝑥 2 + 110.76𝑥 − 47073 = 0
2

−110.76 ± 110.762 − 4 × 47073

𝑥= ⇒ Positive solution is 𝑥 = 168.5 mm
2

Moment of Inertia (About neutral axis)

1 1
𝐼 = × 300 × 168.5 + (𝑛𝐴𝑠 ) × (425 − 𝑥) = × 300 × 168.53 + (16614) × (425 − 168.5)2
3 2
3 3
9 2
⇒ 𝐼 = 1.571 × 10 mm

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I 9 September 3, 2019

 My
Bending Stresses : f 
I
My (95  106 )  168.5
At extreme compression fiber ( y  168.5 mm) : f c    10.2 MPa
I 1.571  10 9

 f  My
At the steel level ( y  425 - 168.5  256.5 mm) : f c   s   fc
 n I
N.A.
My (95  106 )  256.5
 fs  n  9  139.6 MPa
I 1.571  109
As

fs
n
M allowable y f I
(b) Allowable resisting moment : f allowable   M allowable  allowable
I y
Allowable reisting moment corresponding to allowable compression in cocrete :
f c I 10  1.571  109
Mc    93.2  106 N.mm  93.2 kN.m
y 168.5
Allowable reisting moment corresponding to allowable tension in steel :
At the steel level : y  425 - 168.5  256.5 mm
( f s / n) I f s I 140  1.571  109
Ms     95.2  106 N.mm  95.2 kN.m
y ny 9  256.5

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I 10 September 3, 2019

Allowable resisting moments :
M c  93.2 kN.m
Concrete and steel will reach to their permissible stresses at these moments respectively.
M s  95.2 kN.m

Discussion:
• For a given beam , the concrete and steel will not reach their maximum
allowable stresses at exactly the same bending moments.
• The resisting moment of the section is 93.2 kN.m (the smallest) because
if that value is exceeded, concrete becomes overstressed even though
the steel stress is less than its allowable stress.

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I 11 September 3, 2019

 Further Reading
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Read more about this lecture from:

• Reinforced concrete, Mechanics and Design by James K.

Wight, Seventh Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, USA.
• Design of Reinforced Concrete, 10th Edition by J.C.
McCormac and R. H. Brown, Wiley, USA.

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019

 Thank You
13

CE 370 : Reinforced Concrete Design -I September 3, 2019